Counterfactuals in the Initial Value Formulation of General Relativity.

How precisely to understand and evaluate counterfactuals can be an intricate issue. The aim of this article is to examine a new set of difficulties for evaluating counterfactuals that arise in the context of the dynamical spacetimes described by the theory of general relativity (GR). The initial val...

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Publicado en:British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Vol. 72; no. 4; pp. 1111 - 1129
Autores principales: Jaramillo, José Luis, Lam, Vincent
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: University of Chicago Press Dec2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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          Jaramillo, José Luis
          Lam, Vincent
        affil:
          Institut de Mathématiques de Bourgogne (IMB) UMR 5584, CNRS Université de Bourgogne, Franche-Comté Dijon, France
          Institut für Philosophie Universität Bern Bern, Switzerland and Institut Néel and iPhíG Université Grenoble Alpes GrenobleI, France and School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
      su:
        Counterfactuals (Logic)
        General relativity (Physics)
        Physical constants
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          Counterfactuals (Logic)
          General relativity (Physics)
          Physical constants
      ab: How precisely to understand and evaluate counterfactuals can be an intricate issue. The aim of this article is to examine a new set of difficulties for evaluating counterfactuals that arise in the context of the dynamical spacetimes described by the theory of general relativity (GR). The initial value formulation provides us with a methodology to pin down the specific combination of features of the theory at the origin of the difficulties, namely, non-linearity and certain non-local aspects (typically captured by ellipticity at the analytical level), in particular when combined with the global and/or quasi-local character of physical quantities in GR. Finally, we connect the philosophical question about counterfactuals with concrete applied physical issues in GR about extracting meaningful predictions by constructing appropriate initial data sets, leading us to question the very suitability of the Cauchy approach to fully account for the explanatory power of the theory.
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    language: English
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